Douglas County recruits school district for open data initiative

Lone Tree Voice: As part of their effort to streamline public access to government data and services throughout the county, Douglas County officials pitched the school district on joining its Open Data Initiative, which lets consumers search for such information through one user-friendly portal.

“This is an effort to change the culture in Douglas County and tear down the layers of information that separates each one of our governments, including the school district, and become more relevant,” Douglas County Treasurer Diane Holbert told the Douglas County Board of Education at its May 9 meeting.

Douglas County Assessor Lisa Frizell, who also spoke at the meeting, noted how — with technology so easily accessible — the Open Data Initiative can give citizens access to information in the palm of their hand, including material that once required an open records request.

“We live in a very sophisticated community,” Frizell said. And “the bottom line is people don’t care about the silos that we’ve built. They don’t care about the invisible lines in the sand between jurisdictions. They just want their questions answered.”

Reaction from school board members was mixed.

Participation in the program would require the district to share large amounts of its data with the county and make them open to the public.